The Last ChairliftThe Last Chairlift

One of the world's greatest authors retuns with his first novel in seven years--a ghost story and a love story, spanning eight decades of sexual politics. John Irving has written some of the most acclaimed books of our time--among them, Th eWorld According to Garp, The Cider House Rules, A Prayer for Owen Meany, and A Widow for One Year. Time magazine describes his work as "epic and extraordinary and controversial and sexually brave." Now Irving has written what he calls his last long novel--only shorter ones ahead. In Aspen, Colorado, in 1941, Rachel Brewster is a slalom skier at the National Downhill and Slalom Championships. Unremembered in the competition, Little Ray, as she is called, finishes "nowhere near the podium," but she manages to get pregnant. Back home, in New England, Ray becomes a ski instructor. Her son, Adam, grows up in a family that defines conventions and evades questions concerning the eventful past. Years later, looking for answers, Adam will go to Aspen. IN the Hotel Jerome, where he was conceived, Adam will meet some ghosts: in The Last Chairlift, they aren't the only ghosts he sees. --